The Beermonsters Revenge-Learning the Hard Way
There are quite some things in life people just should not do. I am always the guy testing my limits and I discovered another NONO.
I was in Subic with Mike my Typhoon diver and my good friend Kim Beermonster. Those who read my blog frequently heard about the Beermonsters abilities to drink whole Islands dry. After a wonderful day and an awesome dive with dolphins and a false killerwhale, we left our Hotel in Subic to go out for dinner and a “small” barhop.
As I made a wrong comment during the day somewhen, I saw in the mean smile of the Beermonster that he was on a mission to destroy me and make me forget my mother language and to sound Danish in the final stages.
It all started quite well with a dinner at Blue Rock Resort. After that we hit the bars along the road. The beginning of the end came when we were invited by some bar manager to have a couple of shooters. I can drink tons of beer, but one shooter just kicks me out off my shoes.
I remember the second shooter some when at 1 am in the morning was a black Sambuca… not that I did it like the taste, but I felt my vision narrowing on the spot after drinking it.
It was like in a old movie theater at the end of the movie when the big curtain is closing slowly. The only difference was that in my case the lights were switched off after closing the curtain. Witnesses told me that I sneaked out around 2 am and headed towards my Hotel.
The next thing I remember was waking up in my room. I did a body-check to find out happily that no major outer damage was done. I ignored the headache and went for a late breakfast around 12:30pm.
Around 1pm the Beermonster came into the restaurant. Somehow he still had the same mean grin on his face I remembered from 15 hours ago… In his hands a bottle of SMB…
Hey, wait a minute the Beermonster does not drink SMB, he drinks that nasty rice-beer SML.
He placed the SMB in front of my Hang-over-nose and explained me that I left a full open SMB on the table when sneaking out. According to his law this can’t happened and he decided that the SMB will follow me wherever I go until I drink it.
So here I sit now… headache, hang-over, with a lukewarm 12 hour open SMB in front and a nasty grinning Beermonster next to me. I try to negotiate and find another solution but after about starring 20 minutes at the bubble-less yellow liquid I saw no other way out than pouring it down… the rest is history…
Bottom-line: Lesson learned… don’t go out with the Beermonster if you can’t follow the rules…
Virgin Islands Bohol – Trip Report part 2
At around 11 we went on the small boat of Linaw Beach Resort and headed towards Virgin Island with another couple. The other couple was on the last day of their vacation. After a smooth boat ride of about an hour we reached the tiny Island south west of Panglao. Virgin Island is maybe 250 meters long and 60 meters wide at low tide. Perfect white soft sand and palm trees are all you can find when it is low tide.
The real stunning beauty of that Island comes with the outgoing water. An almost perfect semicircle of fine white sand develops. The whole area is surrounded by shallow sea-grass what gives the water a dramatic turquoise touch drifting into dark blue.
While Kim and I made a walk around the Island, his secretaries were sweating in the shade of big umbrella, the boys from Linaw brought for us. They also prepared the BBQ and we had a great Lunch.
After we ate, it was time to take another walk on the sandbar. Due to the seagrass, it was amazing how many creatures were crawling and swimming around at the sandbar. If you are not used to the sun make sure you got some sun-blocker with you, Even you life here it is advisable to use one. I definitely can’t describe the beauty of that spot and even the pictures here only show a fraction of this outstanding site.
Finally at 5 pm we started our way back. Due to the low-tide our boat was tucked and the crew had to jump of the boat more than once to push and pull us out of the shallow waters. That lead to a delay and when we finally reached the resort we could not go back to the Resort and ankerd some 500 meters offshore. The water was shallow enough to walk but there were millions of sea urgins surrounding us. Kim and I rejected to walk bare foot on this Minefield and our American friend from Japan stepped into two after 15 meters.
Kim suggested already half our earlier to drive down 5 minutes more to Alona Beach where it is easy to go right to the beach. Finally the boatcrew understood that we won’t go by foot through the urgin-minefield and another 20 minutes later we landed at Alona Beach where the Belgium Owner of Linaw Beach Resort picked us up with the van.
We came back at the resort around 8 pm and after a quick shower we had a decent dinner at the Bar there. The challenge during the next few hours was simple. To get hydrated again we tried if we can drink faster as the fridge can cool down the SMB and SML…. And we won, but at that point it was not so important anymore if the beer is ice-cold or not.
The next challenge was to wake up early the next day as we planned to head towards the tourist spots of Bohol….
Whenever you visit Bohol for acouple of days, don’t miss out on that trip.
cheers
Rhoody
My Trip to Squijor Island – Part 2
I am usually not going to bed that early, so it was not really a surprise to wake up with the sun around 5:00 pm. In Dumaguete I would boil water for my coffee and start the computer to go through my daily routine. Here in Siquijor I went for a walk and enjoyed the fresh breeze from the sea. I heard birds singing I have never heard before and I spend an hour or so just sucking in the energy of the young day…
At 7:00am Kiwi Dive Resort slowly woke up, and I ordered my first cup of coffee and a ham cheese onion omelet. I started the computer and prepared for Jean, my French Rescue-Diver-Student. The knowledge reviews were done fast. That guy did not only copy the book, he brought in other ideas from his experience Tracking through Nepal and other remote places of the world. At 10:00 am we finished the first three chapters and were ready to set up our gear for the first confined water sessions.
The first exercises are a review of skills each diver should have anyway, including cramp removal, alternate air-source use and tired diver tow. I had Dive-Master-Candidates who were worse. The next skills are about assessment, evaluating the situation and approaching diver on the surface. The Victim could be tired or even panicking. Being the panic diver is one of my favorite role in a rescue course. I love the face –expression of my students when 100 KG plus Equipment grasping them holding them and climbing on top of them. Followed by some underwater practice we had enough time to practice already how to surface an unresponsive diver from the bottom and had a small excursion before we returned to the resort for a lunch.
After lunch the sky became cloudy and the waves higher, so we spend the afternoon in the open air classroom and finished all Knowledge Reviews. Jean decided to go through his Final exam, and he passed it with flying colors. He was actually my first Rescue student who had 100% in the final exam. By 5:00 pm we finished the working part of the day and Jean went for another 15 km run. I was lazy like always and checked my mails ordered my dinner and went for a shower.
When I came back from the room to the restaurant I have been told that there is a strike going on at the Dumaguete Pier and many tourists are stucked on Siquijor. I did not really mind and my Chicken Curry was yummy. Two SMB and back to my room. I forgot to mention that my room is on the top and you need to climb up 56 “steps of death” … No wonder that there is not so much drinking going on at KIWI dive resort. These steps are sober a nightmare… (to be continued)
Brigada Eskwela in Dumaguete
Captain Ribbers - Dumaguete
Vegetarian Chicharon
Dumaguete Airport
Singapore Zoo – Visa Run Part IV
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